RED POLL
NEWS Spring Edition August 2018
DIRECTORY
Patrons Peter Fleming & Robin Shepherd
President Graeme Evans 06 378 2051 Email [email protected]
Secretary Anne McSweeney 03 693 8862 Email [email protected]
Vice-Presidents Ian Fleming 03 329 1787 Email [email protected]
Helen McKenzie 06 372 7842 Email [email protected]
Executive Allan Bridson 07 865 8642 Email [email protected]
Kelvin Lane 06 362 7254
Robert McLeod 027 789 1618 [email protected]
Editor Helen McKenzie 06 372 7842 Email [email protected]
Website: www.redpollcattle.co.nz
NB: This newsletter is on the website in a PDF file
The Association accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any published opinion nor information supplied by individuals or reprinted from other sources. Items may be abridged or edited.
Closing date for next newsletter is November 10th, 2018
Cover: Looking to the future – Two of Jan Schepel’s Red Poll matriarchs
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CONTENTS
02 Directory 03 Contents 04 President’s Page 05 Secretary’s Say 06 From the Editor; UK Archive Item – Red Poll Cow, Davy 295th 07 Patron’s Page I - Robin Shepherd; Melbourne Show Update 08 Patron’s Page II - Peter Fleming 09 Crofthead Report 11 Opoutere Report 12 Kaihinau Report 13 South American Catch Up 14 NZ AGM Tour Report 20 NZ AGM Tour - Photos 21 International Congress Tour - Photos 22 International Congress Tour, USA, Part Four 29 Dawn Mist Report 30 River Valley Farms Report 33 Oriental Theileriosis – coming your way? 38 Evanlea Report / Rangitihi Report 39 Rosemarkie Report; Back Cover Photo captions
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PRESIDENT’S PAGE As we approach the middle of winter I trust all members are wintering well with your cattle. It is a time when we reflect on the decisions we have made earlier in the year. Do we have enough winter feed or do we need to reduce our numbers on hand?
As I sit here contemplating what needs to be in this report I can only say that as cattle farmers we are all aware of Micoplasma Bovis. This may lead to breeders who buy in Feeder calves or others who buy in store stock to look very carefully at how they will operate while this disease exists. Cattle breeders who buy or lease bulls should only do so from farms with closed herds. In other words I encourage members to be very vigilant when purchasing stock. The correct use of the Nait system is vital so all animals can have traceability.
There is still a high demand for our Red Poll cattle and this bodes well for the future of the breed. The outlook for the cattle market is very strong and may it long continue.
As many of our members are senior citizens we need to keep looking out for new breeders who will be able to keep this fine old breed going. I realise this is not easy but if we keep an eye out we may get some lucky breaks.
The AGM held in April was well attended and the only controversy was the Parental DNA testing. It has been referred to the Executive to come up with a decision for the next AGM. This will be done as soon as possible but with our Secretary overseas it has been on hold until she is back in the country.
Kirsty Loveday has developed a Red Poll Facebook page. This could promote further interest in the breed.
My thanks to Helen and Alan Bridson for organising the tour this year. Also to Robin Thomson, for arranging the entertaining guest speaker at our Annual Dinner. Graeme Evans President 4
SECRETARY’S SAY
AGM and Herd Tour: Those that attended had an enjoyable few days in the Waikato and Taranaki area. The quality of cattle seen was very high and it is always good to visit new members. Thank you so much to those who welcomed us on to their farms.
Main Points from 2018 AGM: No changes to subs or registration prices this year.
A lot of discussion about parental profiling of herd sires was held – this rule will probably be changed at next AGM, but a straight DNA profile of herd sires will probably stay.
Herd Pre-Lists: You should all have received these ready for this year’s calving. It is good to see that the ones I do receive (usually December/January) are mostly tidily and accurately filled in with calf details, culls, deaths and sales.
I would like to offer a warm welcome to new Wairarapa Associate Members, Oliver Wylie and Tina Theedom. They have bought 10 females from Robin Thomson and Ann Blackler of Urenui.
Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa now has 4 breeding herds that register – plus 3 new herds who are still Associate Members, 2 or 3 non breeding Associate Members and a couple of commercial herds, one pure (Kelvin & Kath Lane, Pongaroa) and 1 graded up with about 30 cows but not Associate members.
I hope you all have a productive, warm Spring.
Anne McSweeney
282 Woodside Road, R.D.21, Geraldine. 7991
Ph 036938862 Email: [email protected]
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FROM THE EDITOR Hi Everyone, Special thanks to Kaye & Jamie Heaven for sending in such enthusiastic reports in the last couple of newsletters.
For those of you who like an ale I have found Mike’s Organic Brewery’s “Black Box” sample pack in our local New World. It is actually an orange cardboard carton with 6 different bottles in it – Longline Lager; Pils-Nah; Leaky Boat Grapefruit IPA; Kaitake; Flight of the Falcon and WOW. All come recommended by Warwick, after taste testing! Ron Trigg of Mike’s was our guest speaker at the Annual Dinner – see the Tour Report inside.
Great that Wairarapa now has another new herd starting off. Should be a really good herd tour when it is our turn. Helen
FROM THE UK RED POLL ARCHIVES. Thanks to Joy Broughton, UK
Major Ivor Buxton, of Little Dunham, King’s Lynn, possesses a Red Poll cow, Davy 295th, now nineteen years old. She bred her former owner, Mrs Herbert Hammond, of Field Dalling, thirteen calves, and since she has been owned by Major Buxton has had three more, making a total of sixteen. She is now in calf again. This cow well illustrates the merits of the Red Poll breed for longevity, breeding qualities and milk persistency. Last year Davy 295th gave in her lactation period 9,715lbs, which may be considered an extraordinary yield for a cow of that age. In her last lactation she has yielded 11,392lbs in 42 weeks – not a bad performance for a 19-year-old cow. 6
PATRON’S PAGE I
Well, cattle farming now has a new dimension, with Mycoplasma bovis. What the future holds in that area of animal health is hard to guess but it will affect us all.
It has already spelled the death knell of local calf clubs and will inevitably have the same effect on our local A and P show. On-farm protocols will require attention to hygiene and control of any potential sources of contamination. The use of stock trucks will inevitably require tight controls as will systems for shipping cattle. I can see that vets, technicians and a raft of persons who service farms will have to improve their hygiene to avoid transmission of the bug.
My other paragraph this time is about having a tidy up of our Annual Meeting system. At present we have no standing - orders covering meeting procedures so we rely on precedent and/or the direction of the chair. This arrangement works in most situations but could be improved if we were to adopt a set of standing-orders. I suggest to our current elected committee that they investigate that possibility so that in meetings with situations where there is uncertainty about how to proceed, the matter could be quickly clarified.
Robin Shepherd QSO.
MELBOURNE SHOW UPDATE I just had an email from Gay Ward, Australian National Red Poll President advising me that they now have 74 entries for the Feature Classes at the Royal Melbourne Show; 10 entries in the Sale plus two lots of semen.
Should be well worth a trip over to see – how about making a booking? Warwick and I are looking forward to our trip.
11am Saturday 29th September is the judging for Red Polls Sale begins at 4pm Helen
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PATRON’S PAGE II
I trust those of you who attended the Herd Tour enjoyed it.
I’ve been having a bit of a tidy up and found a few odd copies of past stud books lurking in my garage. If there are any you are missing perhaps it would be worth you letting Ian know so he can pass the message on to me. I do not use email anymore – too hard on the eyes!
In the December 2016 issue I wrote about Conmurra Balalaika, Australian herd book #10094, NZHB #3432, a bull we bought from Tasmanian eye specialist, Dr Mal Quatermass. Balalaika was by Larkhill Scarlet out of Larkhill Hornpipe. At the time of writing I could not lay hands on a photo but during my foraging in the garage I found the photo below with a couple of others.
Balalaika, left, held by Mal and Bacardi, held by farm manager, G Gurr.
Cheers Peter Fleming
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CROFTHEAD REPORT
Picture a warm, sunny Taranaki day, relaxing, enjoying the sun and a cup of tea. “What would you like to do when you retire?” she asked. “I would love to breed Red Polls” he said. “What?” asked the Townie…
And 18 months later here we are. Up to our knees in Wairarapa mud, managing the rain and frosts with a small herd of 12 Red Polls and thoroughly loving the experience.
The first year of the life of Crofthead farm has been a wonderful experience. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Robin Thomson & Ann Blackler, both for selling us our original 9 heifers, and for the hours of phone support. We really couldn’t have done it without you! Also, to Warwick and Helen from Rosemarkie for the loan of their bull, Dawn Mist Zeus Montana, (or Monty as he is affectionately known). We are very well aware that we could not be where we are now without all this support.
It was wonderful to attend the annual herd tour and AGM and put some faces to names. It was a fantastic week that I would highly recommend to all and I am only sorry we were not able to meet with Alan Bridson who did such a great job organising it all. Thanks to his wife, Helen, for putting on a great meal in difficult circumstances (and thanks for the secret recipe ).
I’m sure most of you are aware how passionate Robert is about this breed as he has made it his mission to contact most, if not all, of the members by phone over the last year. He is particularly keen to support new breeders as while we are a new stud, he has been involved with Red Polls for over 40 years, but is also aware how tricky it was to find information when starting out. He is always keen to talk!
We would also like to welcome Ollie Wylie and Tina Theedom, who with the help of Robin Thompson, we have facilitated them purchasing their first small herd.
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With 9 of ours calving this year we are frantically finishing fencing, feeding out and planning a house build. Roll on the next 12 months!
Kirsty & Rob
Tamihana Za Prudence (AI) at Crofthead Farm
I hope you have all checked out the Facebook page that Kirsty has set up. She will be hoping to see many good photos and the odd story about something nice that you’ve done with your Red Polls. If you’re not sure how to go about it I’m sure Kirsty would help.
Kirsty and Rob’s enthusiasm for the breed knows no bounds – along with recent new breeders Kaye and Jamie Heaven who support this newsletter regularly.
How about a few long time breeders making the effort as well? Editor
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OPOUTERE REPORT
As some of you would be aware, Allan had a health issue and ended up in Waikato Hospital, suffering from a stroke, on the day before the herd tour was due to start. Our sincere thanks to Warwick and Helen, who swung into action and were great support to Helen B.
Allan now has a clean bill of health and with medication, and by using his brain instead of his brawn, will be back to leading a normal life.
Our thanks to fellow cattle breeders who phoned and sent cards of support.
We are very lucky to have brilliant neighbours and friends who rallied around, until Allan was back on his feet again.
On a lighter note, I met Jan Schepel, but not in the manner I expected too. Jan was one of the consultant neuro-surgeons who dealt with me, and we did have a brief chat about Red Poll cows.
On the farm, we are in the middle of winter. Conditions under foot are still reasonable, stock condition is good, and we have good reserves of silage.
The agent who bought our yearling bulls last year, has been back to look at this year’s crop of bulls and is keen to do another deal.
The two in calf heifers will be trucked to Ian Thomas at Matangi tomorrow, we hope he enjoys farming them.
Wishing all fellow breeders a kind winter and a successful calving.
Helen & Allan
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KAIHINAU STUD REPORT No calves as yet from our calving cows but just around 10 days to a fortnight away. We weaned last year’s calves at the end of May. I’m sure that it was too late. Big calves harassing mothers for the last vestige of milk, competing for food supply in the form of milk protein. We have got good weaner calves from the cows, but at the dams’ expense.
However as you can see by the photo, they are behind an electric fence now, and the challenge is to put back onto the mothers what their calves had taken from them.
Remember our breed record is 24 calves from a single dam so that means they need looking after. Longevity is definitely a feature of Red Polls!
In the Horowhenua it has been a much better winter than last year. We are hopeful it may continue into Spring. The cows at Pongaroa are cleaning up excess autumn grass growth for winter requirements as no supplements were made over there. The main supplement at home here is Autumn made baleage of high quality being fed out with the mechanical advantage of a new Case Farmall JN100.
We enjoyed seeing everyone at New Plymouth although a smaller number than usual and regret not making it up to the Coromandel to see the Bridsons.
We all have to meet the challenge of M Bovis and play our part in the national scheme of eradication whatever our viewpoint. It will mean being concise among ourselves with the origin of stock procurements.
We have 16 rising 2 commercial bulls and 40 rising 1 yearling bulls for sale. Also have a good line of commercial rising 2 heifers. The 6 rising 2 in calf heifers from Nina Walker’s are available for sale as well but they will not calve until February 2019.
I have the intention to register the brand “Origin Red” as a reference for our commercial cattle. Kelvin & Kath
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SOUTH AMERICAN CATCH UP
I’m afraid I don’t have any fresh news about the situation here, but I certainly will have next month after my visit to Esteio (Porto Alegre, Brazil) which is the main exhibition in the area. I will contact the Brazilian breeders there during their presentation. This will take place at the end of August, so my news will arrive after that.
Here in Uruguay the most important exhibition is called “Prado” and takes place in August as well. Due to different factors there have not been any presentations of our breed for many years, so I am planning to prepare some animals for next year, which will be great news for the future (not yet though!!) Cheers Mariano
Young bulls at Kelvin & Kathy Lane’s Kaihinau Stud 13
97TH AGM & HERD TOUR, CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND Tuesday 17th April to Friday 20th April, 2018
Once again a great tour, apart from the misfortune to our tour organiser, Allan Bridson, of an unplanned trip to hospital. I’m happy to report he has made a good recovery.
Tuesday 17th Eventually everyone arrived, although some too late to view Allan & Helen’s cattle. It was a pleasure to see the cattle, with most being conveniently close to the house. We also visited a smallfarmer neighbour who has used Allan’s bull and had some nice cross bred cattle.
This was followed by a beautiful evening meal provided by Bridson’s. Twelve of us sat down to eat. Those who weren’t staying privately lodged in the Breakers Motel in Whangamata.
Bridson’s senior herd sire, Tamihana Favour Son
Wednesday 18th We left Whangamata to travel “cross country” to visit two small Waikato herds. The first stop was to see retired dairy farmer and pedigree Friesian cattle breeder, Raeden Jackson. He is very keen on Red Polls and bought two 14 in calf heifers from Robin Thomson. Raeden’s grandfather, W Jackson, had a Red Poll stud – “Waihou”. It was founded in 1920 and later taken over by Linden Jackson (About 1940). The last registrations were made in 1956. The cows were noted for their good butterfat production and several sales of females to other herds took place. Raeden is keen to collect information on the milking ability and milk constituents of his cows.
Cow and calf at Raeden’s
From Raeden’s we travelled Morrinsville where he joined us for a light lunch. From there we all went on to Ian Thomas’s small block where he runs a few each of several different cattle breeds including his pet Hereford cow which is exceptionally quiet. Ian has a couple of heifers that he bought from Jan Schepel.
One of Ian’s heifers
Our next move was to Raglan where we firstly got our varied accommodation sorted, had a quick cuppa and then drove down to the wharf where we were meeting for dinner. Jan Schepel met us there. We were seeing his cattle the next morning. The meals were all commented on favourably.
Thursday 19th Next day we visited Jan’s “Halcyon” Stud. While not a big herd they are all of good quality with some very nice calves still at foot. Rob McLeod & his partner Kirsty Loveday were so taken with Jan’s animals that they later bought one of his bull calves as a potential stud sire. 15
Jan has had a small herd for several years now and has a good demand for his surplus animals, often selling via Trade Me. One of Jan Schepel’s bull calves
Our next stop was lunch in Te Kuiti at “Stoked Eatery” on the main street. This was situated at the Railway Station. The food was good.
After a fairly scenic drive, we arrived at Robin Thomson and Ann Blackler’s “Tamihana” Stud, near Mount Messenger. Shortly after we got there another car pulled up. It was our past President, Sean Trafford and his son Romero who had noticed the cars gathered as they were passing and thought – that must be the Red Poll herd tour! It was good to see them and have a quick catch up.
Tamihana Excel Verda, Tag #92. Born 31/10/2008
Sire: Willowlea G F Excell
Dam: Woodcocks Verily.
‘Verily’ was bred by Jimmy Tatt. Robin bought her from Tania Little, when she sold her cows at Waiuku. She became Supreme Champion Red Poll when shown by him at the 2003 Hastings and 2005 Waikato Royal Shows.
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Robin has one of the larger pedigree herds now. He is trying to downsize a bit and had 10 cows for sale when we were there. They have now been sold to the Wairarapa to new breeders, Oliver Wylie and his partner, Tina Theedom.
On leaving Robin and Ann’s we travelled down to New Plymouth, where we were staying at the Devon Hotel, with the Annual Dinner that night.
Relaxing together with pre-dinner drinks L-R Judy Evans, Betty Sowry, Anne McSweeney, Kelvin Lane, Kath Lane, Ann Blackler & Graeme Evans (back to camera)
The dinner was held separately from the very busy, obviously popular, main dining room. Our room was the perfect size with room to move but still an intimate atmosphere. Ron Trigg
The speaker was Ron Trig from Mike’s Organic Brewery, currently based in Urenui, but hoping to sell and move closer to New Plymouth itself. His wife Carol attended the dinner with him. [Carol is his second wife. They re-met via the internet.]
Ron is an ebullient character with an engaging, often humorous manner of speaking. He indulged us with part of his life story. He was born in Namibia but grew up in Rhodesia (as it then was). His dad and Carol’s worked in the copper mines. Air pollution was a factor in a decision to look to South Africa for a farm. After much searching, it was decided that it was going to be impossible to find a farm with a high degree of assured personal safety.
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Ron and his first wife came to NZ on holiday. They travelled around Coromandel with a campervan. As a country that had rugby, familiar road signs and a friendly people they later chose to make NZ their home.
Initially they purchased a 150 hectare farm and grew avocados. When the value of the property rose they opted to cash up and move elsewhere.
In 2007, the Trigg family bought Mike’s Organic Brewery. Ron’s father, Mike, (another Mike) took instruction in brewing from the previous owner while Ron worked away during in the daytime to help keep finances ticking over. Eventually Ron took over from his Dad as chief brewer.
The brewery has tried making about 60 different beers. These days they have a core of sixteen and make various “one-offs”, including “heavy petal” a rose beer. Ron stressed it is important to have water with mineral salts for particular types of beer/ale. The first batch brewed beer was made by the Sumerians about 10,000 - 11,000 years ago. Mike’s craft beers are all batch made.
The following item is from “All About Beer Magazine, Vol 29, Issue 4, Sept 1st, 2008.
‘One of New Zealand’s most interesting contributions to brewing sciences is the process known as continuous fermentation. This process was patented in 1953 by Morton Coutts, whose family had been involved in brewing since the 19th century. His father founded the Waitemata Brewery, which eventually become DB Breweries.
Essentially, Coutts created a “wort stabilization process” that made the wort more consistent and clear, and then separated the main functions of the yeast into two stages. In the first, yeast grew, and in the second, it fermented. By splitting these two functions, Coutts created a “continuous flow,” so brewers could continually add raw materials to the first stage, and draw off a steady supply of finished beer from the second thus allowing the brewery to run constantly.
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It also shortened the brewing process by as much as several weeks. Recognizing the economic advantages to continuous fermentation, Lion and DB worked together jointly to develop a practical way to use the method in a commercial brewery, opening the world’s first continuous fermentation brewery in 1957 in Palmerston North, a town in the south central part of the North Island.
Continuous fermentation works best in a brewery making only one style of beer, because it’s difficult to stop the process and start up again with a new beer. As a result, Lion largely abandoned continuous fermentation in the 1980s in order to brew a wider variety of styles, while DB continues to use the method, as do several other large breweries around the world, such as Guinness.’
As they say “history repeats itself” and they are reverting to batch brewing in the big breweries to take advantage of the craft beer phenomenon redeveloped by the little guys! Editor
Friday 20th The Annual General Meeting of the NZ Red Poll Cattle Breeders’ Association was held in the Watson Meeting room of the Devon Hotel, New Plymouth. See the Official Association Minutes for the AGM report.
Association President, Graeme Evans gets up close and personal with Jan Schepel’s bull
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NZ AGM Photos, April 2018
L-R Greg Sweeney, Warwick Potts, Helen Colin Meads statue, Te Kuiti Bridson at Opoutere
Ian Thomas & his pet Hereford cow Mount Messenger tunnel, Urenui
Raglan Harbour L-R Robin Thomson, Warwick Potts, Graeme Evans at Tamihana Stud
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INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS PHOTOS, June 2017
St Louis’s famous catenery arch – 650 Bronze of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn feet high. in Hannibal, Missouri
Helen Mancey (UK) & Clydesdale gelding Cow & calf sculpture, Wichita, Kansas with Simpson Calhoun (right) looking on.
L-R Ayleen & Robin Dawes; Simon Temple, Phyllis Diller paintings, Wichita, Kansas Dean Anderson & Warwick Potts at Brewery
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THE INTERNATIONAL RED POLL CONGRESS & TOUR, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1-25th JUNE 2017, Part 4
Saturday June 10th, Day Ten We travelled about 400 miles today. After breakfast, Judy Evans, Warwick and I went for a walk through the Hampton Inn Hotel car park over to the Illinois River. We noticed a few heads pop up not too far from shore. We concluded that they may have been turtles. The beach was not very wide and a lot of demolition materials had been used to support the bank.
Back to the Hotel, we picked up our hand luggage and onto the bus leaving for Hannibal, Missouri - latter translates roughly as “place of large canoes” - (about 100miles northwest of St Louis) where we were to stop for lunch and a look around the shops before carrying on to Drury Inn in Kansas city. (Note, Kansas City is not in Kansas – it’s in Missouri!!) Capital of Missouri is Jefferson City. The Missouri River is the largest tributary of the mighty Mississippi River.
Illinois – the Prairie State - we passed through mainly flat land with some of shallow rolling contour. We stopped for a quick break at the “Rail Splitter” rest area in Sherman, Illinois. As we were casually strolling towards some trees Kent Libbey warned us they can carry ticks and not to stand beneath them. We were delivered to the door of Mark Twain Brewing (a pub) in Hannibal, for lunch. This pub was alongside the Mississippi River. The restaurant was upstairs. Lunch was homemade meat loaf, mixed vege and Warwick & I shared a huge baked potato. We had some very nice real lemonade.
From the good viewpoint we were able to watch an enormous barge coming along the river. This was made up of fifteen smaller (relatively!) barges lashed together being pushed / guided by a tug boat. It was making good time. It takes quite a lot of time to set up for a turn apparently.
After a futile trek looking for a Post Office, (which had shut half an hour previously) Warwick and I had a quick look around town. This was the only town we came across which really had an old fashioned shopping centre. We passed the house where Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, lived from when he was four years old until age eighteen. The whole town of Hannibal is pretty
22 much a memorial to Clemens. A statue of his most famous characters, Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, sculpted by Frederick Hibbard, was erected by the township in 1926.
From Hannibal we headed for Kansas City for tea at an Italian Ristorante – a choice of lasagne or lemon chicken – both very nice. We stayed the night at a Drury Inn hotel. In the morning we looked out of the hotel to see a big line up of Ford cars of various vintages – enthusiasts were also staying at the hotel.
Sunday June 11th, Day Eleven We’re heading for the state of Kansas today. Kansas is known to have extremes of temperature - heading into winter wheat belt country. Lots of the bores drilled have come up with salt water. Generally cattle water in Kansas is from surface ponds or “tanks” as they are called there. Most feed oats are imported from Canada. Roads are tar sealed rather than cement. The road drainage has been fixed over the last twenty years so now no water under the roads to freeze.
We arrived at Womelsdorf Farm, Colony, home of Dan & Rene Womelsdorf. We’re now officially in “cowboy” country! Several bulls were on display, including Parkstyle Rocky, below.
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Rocky’s calf birth weights are around 70 -80 ½ lb (31 -36kgs). We were told he leaves nice temperaments too. The cattle were wearing round blue discs in their ears along with ordinary ID tags. These discs carry insecticides for flies and ticks. Womelsdorfs like good functional cattle. They believe in not over feeding young bulls on grain as it can affect long term soundness, fertility and longevity. They also believe in room for the cattle to move around and get exercise. After a very nice lunch we were back on the bus headed for our next overnight stop in Wichita, Kansas. Before we made it there we had a stop at a Orscheln Farm & Home Store, a vast building with everything you find at PGG Wrightsons, Farmlands & Mitre 10 rolled into one plus firearms.
As we drove along our tour guide, Barabara, told is a bit about Kansas – the capital is Topeka, State flower is the sunflower; insect is the honey bee and the State song is “Home On the Range” – naturally!
We arrived at Wichita about 5pm. Although inhabited by native peoples for many centuries the township known as Wichita really began when Jesse Chisholm set up a trading post on the banks of the Arkansas River in 1860. Also known as “Cowtown” for its position on the Chisholm Trail when the cattle drives from Texas were heading north to Wichita. Eventually it became an important railhead for shipping cattle to eastern markets. For a while it also had several oil refineries. These days it is home to many of the USA’s light plane and business jet manufacturers. The first aviation industry began there in the 1920’s. It is thought the city has produced more than 250,000 aircraft over the years and is currently responsible for one fifth of America’s aircraft production; names such as Cessna, Beechcraft and Learjet feature among the aviation plants.
Although our hotel had a free meal and drinks “happy hour” that night we had been booked into the Larkspur restaurant. Most did manage to avail themselves of a drink before we left for dinner though! Some of our meals were pre-ordered but the salmon ran out before the chicken – some folks must have changed their minds or forgotten what they had ordered. This restaurant had a lot of paintings and signed prints by the American comedienne, Phyllis Diller, who was a personal friend of the original owners.
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Monday June 12th, Day Twelve Today we visit Wiese Farms, home of Bill and Angie Wiese and Brian and Jill Hiebert.
Bill and Angie are in semi-retirement. Jill is the eldest of their three daughters and the fifth generation to carry on the family farm. The farm consists of 900 acres of both irrigated and dryland crops of wheat, soybeans, corn, grain sorghum and alfalfa plus 350 acres of pasture for their Red Polls.
In 1927 Bill’s father bought his first two Red Poll cows. Initially it became a milking herd with cream sold off farm and the skim being used to fatten pigs and calves. The Red Polls helped save the farm during the Great Depression and even enabled a neighbouring block to be purchased as well as the block where Jill and her husband Brian live about three miles away.
In the 1940’s Bill’s dad, William senior, began to keep a few bull calves to sell as herd sires. In the 1950’s the herd rose from 25 milking cows to 50 beefier cows. In 1958 the then secretary of the Red Poll Assn encouraged both Bills to buy a set of scales. These days Wiese Farms is an advocate of the Association’s Complete Herd Reporting Programme. Bill’s father said to him, “Always buy the best bull available”, and Bill has stuck to this principle throughout. Herd sire at Wiese’s - NWOC SS Legacy from the herd of Wayne Fish of Bartlesville, OK. His sire is OC Osage Red Boy and dam is Pamden Cesars Kale Jo.
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Tuesday 13th June, Day 13 Halfway through the tour and we have travelled about 1800 miles so far on the bus. Lunch was with Wiese’s in a hall at Haven township. They had an interesting Red Poll wallhanging on display; the fabric was very heavy. Hanging seen here being held up by Bert Hancock and daughter Rachael, from Australia.
It says “AMERICAN RED POLL ASSOCIATION Serving the Beef industry since 1883.” It also has American Junior Red Poll Association with a cattle beast in the square. Bill Wiese says, “Our daughter and son-in-law got one also. Neither of us are sure anymore how we came by them. We think we purchased them from the Juniors at Springfield, MO about 20 years ago at the National Banquet. Perhaps the Junior Association had a number of them made for a fund raiser?” It was certainly a great thing to see.
Further down the road we had a short break at a Missouri Welcome Centre. We’re heading to Drury Inn, St Louis. [Drury Hotel chain has 130 hotels in 21 states] With a bit of a side step by coach captain, Aaron, we even had a short drive along a mile or so of the historic Route 66. We arrived in St Louis about 3-15pm. Warwick and I found a money machine for some much needed cash and then enjoyed the company of Helen and Allan Bridson at Starbucks for a coffee. Dinner was at Landry’s Restaurant – renowned for Gulf coast cuisine - part of the historic St Louis Railway Station. Seafood definitely on the menu here!
Helen & Terry Mancey arrive from UK tonight and Ian and Jill Coghlan depart the tour tomorrow morning.
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Wednesday 14th June, Day 14 This morning we visited the Purina Animal Nutrition Centre. We had to be on the bus by 7.45am. We were welcomed by Mr Rod Nulik, the Customer Relations Manager, and given an overview of the history and ethos of the company.
This farm consists of 1188 acres and is the main focus of their research in the USA. They collect over 2 million data points a month on cattle. The facility manufactures annually 400,000 tons of back yard poultry feed in single bags. They do not do much poultry research themselves as the Poultry Industry is big enough to do its own research. The Purina Brand is shared with Nestlé who do the dog and cat food side of things (If the bag you buy has a chequer board pattern on it is owned by Nestlé.)
The firm is now owned by Land O Lakes (an American farmer owned dairy co- operative). It was bought in 2001 for 360 million dollars. One of our guides said the firm had changed hands 6 times since he started work there. Purina began in 1916 as a horse feed research laboratory. Currently they have 7,000 animals being fed on the Research Farm every day plus honeybees. No research into organic feeds. There is concern about the use of antibiotics in calf feed. 4 cents of research is invested in every 50lb bag of dog food. They employ 100 staff.
We were each given a book on their beef operation put together specially for the Red Poll tour. They also have product field tests in many area of America. They have conducted more than 200 cattle experiments to develop products that solve problems on the farm. They are using epigenetics in their search for better nutrition during pregnancy in cattle. Also have done a lot of research into the growth and nutrition requirements of calves in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. One of the very interesting findings of their studies has been that replacement heifer fertility is affected by the 3rd trimester nutrition of her dam. In cows that were supplemented 93% of their daughters got pregnant compared with 80% where dams had no supplements; 77% calved within first 21 days compared with 49%, and 78% had unassisted deliveries compared with 64%. Developments to help achieve this on the range are the use of Purina Accuration IM Technology – this encourages cattle 27 to take lots of small amounts of supplement during the day; and Purina Wind and Rain Cattle Mineral. That part of the visit was led by Dr Ron Scott, Director of Beef Research. There were also sections on Rumenology, managing Mineral Nutrition and Breeding Stock Development. A most interesting, and relevant, presentation. We were given lunch here too. In the later part of the morning we visited the Horse research facility. They have 14 - 15 foals a year there. This was also a worthwhile visit. We saw the treadmill demonstrated where they test for stamina etc.
Back on the bus and into St Louis to see the famous Anheuser Busch Brewery and visit one of their Clydesdale horse stables. With half an hour before the tour started we all had a look around the souvenirs they have for sale. We were taken around the stables of the famous Budweiser 8 horse hitch. Fabulous cabinets for keeping each harness set in. One of the escalators
A small sample of beer or two each were given out while we listened to a general overview of the Brewery history, then we walked through several buildings and up (and came down again) on 7 escalators to get to the top of the bottling and packing plant. We were each given a token to exchange for a large glass of beer at the Brewery bar once the tour finished. We then caught a Brewery tram back up the hill.
We travelled on our coach to “The Old Spaghetti Factory” for dinner. A lovely old building, lots of dark wood and some beautiful stained glass windows. It was the last night for Jimmy & Erick from Kenya as they were driving up to New York to fly home on Saturday. As we left the restaurant there was a Percheron horse hitched to a carriage waiting outside for passengers. Apparently there are about 8 different carriages working around that district. 28
DAWN MIST REPORT
Winter has been kind in Canterbury so far -a few good frosts and plenty of warm sunshine; cattle contented and happy and not needing as much feed as in colder weather. In fact, they will struggle to get through the crop that's ahead of them before it goes to seed. Needless to say the cows are heading into calving in great condition and the young stock are thriving - we have a few rising yearling bull calves that we are exceptionally pleased with.
In June, we spent 3 weeks in the UK catching up with friends and touring around. They are currently experiencing a hot, dry summer (after a wet, cold winter) and hay and baleage crops are well down on previous years. We went to the Three Counties Show where it was great to see so many varieties of animals on display - there were so many breeds of sheep that we had never seen before and the pig competition was very strong. Mike helped Terry Mancey prepare his cattle and met many of the "old faces" from our 2011 Red Poll tour of England. We did the Settle/Carlisle steam train trip with Helen & Terry and Sally & Simon Temple - a very enjoyable way to travel through the Beautiful Yorkshire countryside.
England's roads get busier by the day and road works, detours and accidents can make for some very slow trips. Helen took 2 hours to make the normally half hour trip home from work one day, and an hour later we were heading from Stoke-on-Trent to Lancaster - a trip of normally one and a half hours took three!! Even with all the traffic hassles, Terry was a very patient, informative and interesting tour guide, and we saw lots of beautiful English countryside. Helen and I managed to squeeze in some beautiful garden visits and a couple of lovely village fetes. It is a pity it’s such a long way to go to visit friends.
It was good to catch up with many of you at the AGM and Herd tour in April. I particularly enjoyed Raglan, which is a part of NZ I hadn't visited before, and Red Polls are suited to that country very much if Jan's cattle are anything to go by! Anne & Mike McSweeney
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RIVER VALLEY FARM’S REPORT The season just gone we became the proud new owners of 3 heifer’s and 6 bull calves, because we are building our numbers slow and steady like a couple of turtles…. We harassed our wonderful neighbours “The ever giving Shepherds” and swapped out the 6 well behaved BOYS for 6 long eyelashed gorgeous GIRLS. We are so lucky, now having 9 R1 heifers at the lifestyle home property.
King George Orwell and his harem of 10 best behaved cows moved on & up to the block with the 9 R2yr olds (that you probably remember only got to spend time with the riff raff). Santa, the shabby chic fella, had to come back to a small lease block we run just up the road in Pamapuria - due to Orwell coming to town!!! Santa will be running with 4 of the young steers from this year’s hand reared mix breed calves. Of the riff raff there is only one starve ’n ’marven (the huge black ‘n’ white steer with as big a personality to match) left, with the jersey being sold on and the beefy making sure the humans don’t starve. We purchased 8 Black/White faced Hereford X Angus and 1 Red Devon R1 heifers, which will be swapped over when these home Red Poll calves are big enough. So the block will be all Red Poll by the end of this next season, progress we only dreamt of 1 short season ago…
The Red Devon and Hereford X will come Home with Santa (also a Red Devon) who has put on weight and is a lovely quiet nature. He will never be a Red Poll but we love him, so glad we gave him a home when he needed it.
We also ran 100 odd mix breeds last season which did it a bit hard when our quad was taken. We couldn’t pick up the milk from down the road or drag the
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½ tonne feeder around the new pens and paddocks (we could live with the loss of the machine but must admit that the loss of some of the animals broke our hearts . Anyway we did the best we could with our trusty rusty tractor and ended up selling 70 odd which meant a second-hand new Toyota Hilux Ute for all the 4am/4pm feedings my awesome husband completed. Of course our 2 working dogs, Gem and Fudge, think it is their Ute which they let Jamie drive when they need wind in their faces at speed!!! There is something to be said for calves being reared only on their Mothers. How far we have come from our dairy milking days. So this coming season we have decided no hand reared mix breed’s for us, this also served another fear of bringing any other illnesses onto either property and protecting the good lines we have been blessed with. Coming from a healthcare background, isolation works, so is something Jamie and I can commit to willingly.
We have been working hard at home dropping treelines to let the sun do it’s magic and changing fence lines to make it safer for the cows when the river floods, so the three middle paddocks on the home property now have a flat and a raised half to each. Perhaps driving around in the cold and wet at 3am with mining lights strapped to our forehead’s is over… Who am I kidding, don’t be fooled we are probably still just going to check on these cutie’s LOL. Some thing’s never change…
Lots of rain in a short period of time and the grass has definitely slowed down so we brought 60 bales of hay but can’t pick it up with the 3 tonne tipper - hay man’s paddocks too wet… trusty rusty and the trailer will have to burn down State Highway 1 to complete it soon. Coming from the Big Smoke (Auckland) these are the things this new rural farming life in Little Kaitaia offers - I Love It!! For Jamie not having to lock up the paddocks and manage the whole process of
31 haymaking - just buy it, pick it up and store it - means we love our new life- style.
We really enjoy getting the Red Poll News. One of the advantages is learning all about the breed, how others are doing and feeling part of something “just a little bit special” so when we purchased (the dogs’) new Ute from Palmerston North, we flew down and drove back up the west coast. “Boy we sure do all live in the most beautiful place on earth” and to our surprise in a little place called Mokau (where my Grandparents lived for a lot of my childhood and my cousins still dairy farm to this day) we spotted a fabulous bunch of Red Polls!! So for the next 250 km’s Jamie and I played guess which operation and what was their name from memory… By the time we reached Kaitaia we knew it was Tami-something, on arrival home Tamihana won the day and the next time we are in that neck of the woods or any other woods with Red Poll breeders in it, we will pop in and introduce ourselves. So this is fair warning to everyone in the society, you never know when the Heaven’s will be passing through.
R2’s at the block licking on up a mouthful
We wish everyone a safe and
healthy 2018 season.
Jamie & Kaye Heaven and “GP”
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ORIENTAL THEILERIOSIS By Kevin Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Pastoral Livestock Health, Massey University. Printed with permission
Oriental theileriosis is estimated to cost the Australian red meat industry $19.6M per annum and AUS $202 per affected cow in lost milk production for dairy cows in an acutely infected herd. The only completed New Zealand study found NZ $196 per affected cow in lost reproductive performance in a single recently infected dairy herd. Most New Zealand farms, dairy and beef, affected in the recent epidemic have recorded relatively low mortality (death) and morbidity (disease) rates, the medians being 0.23% and 0.97% respectively. However, the variability of disease and death rates seems to be far greater for beef farms than dairy farms and up to 5% deaths and 30% sick have been reported. Oriental theileriosis first appeared in New Zealand in 2012 having likely arrived by the live importation of infected cattle from Australia, where the disease had first been recognised in 2006. The disease is caused by an intracellular haemoprotozoan parasite called Theileria orientalis (Ikeda) which is transmitted from cow to cow by the tick Haemaphysalis longicornis. Once infected, cattle probably carry the disease for life. H. longicornis (aka cattle tick, bush tick) is the only tick in New Zealand that affects livestock. The distribution of H. longicornis in New Zealand is shown in Figure 1, Heath (2016). The tick first arrived in 1911 and has slowly spread through the North Island and the top of the South Island, Figure 1, the black areas are high risk, the grey areas are low risk and the white areas are zero risk of H. longicornis infestation. H. longicornis is a three-host tick, requiring a blood feed from a new host for each of the three independent feeding stages, and has four stages in its life cycle; egg, six-legged larva, eight-legged nymph, and eight-legged adult. Eggs are typically laid onto pasture between December and February. In appropriate conditions larvae hatch, then attach to a mammalian host to gorge on blood for three to nine days. After dropping off the first host larvae develop into nymphs, which then find a second host to engorge upon for three to eight days before dropping off to develop into a mature adult tick. After feeding an adult tick will lay approximately 2000 eggs. The feeding habits of H. longicornis are quite cosmopolitan and suitable hosts include 33 cattle, deer, goats, horses, hares, sheep, dogs, kiwis, and even humans. In New Zealand the H. longicornis life cycle is usually completed within 12 months, with over-wintering nymphs mainly engorging from July to September, adults from November to December and larvae from February to April. The largest proportions of the tick’s life cycle, by time, are occupied by the free-living stages which are spent mostly hidden under herbage at ground level. H. longicornis eggs hatch uninfected, thus for infection to occur larvae or nymphs must feed on an infected host and infection is then transferred trans- stadially to the nymph or adult stage at moulting. This provides two life stages where ticks may infect cattle; as nymphs and adults. Peak infection rates are in spring and autumn aligning with increased activity in nymph and adult ticks.
Figure 1 Spread of Haemaphysalis longicornis in New Zealand over time. The black areas are high risk, the grey areas are low risk and the white areas are zero risk of Haemaphysalis longicornis infestation
Theileria orientalis (Ikeda) parasitises red blood cells and causes anaemia, however unlike diseases such as babesiosis, the RBCs do not rupture but are removed from the circulation by macrophages in the liver and spleen. This means that red water is rarely seen in cattle affected by oriental theileriosis. Affected cattle usually show a combination of the following clinical signs; anaemia, lethargy, production drop, anorexia, ill-thrift, diarrhoea, constipation, 34 jaundice, collapse, pale udders, possible haemoglobinuria, and inappetence. The frequency of these signs usually approximated the degree of anaemia in affected animals. There is some evidence that a second, less common, disease syndrome in young dairy beef and weaned beef cattle also exists in which affected cattle present with ill-thrift, diarrhoea and deaths. Late term abortion is a much more frequent finding in the Australian epidemic than the New Zealand one.
To assist in the rapid assessment of individuals in a herd outbreak of T. orientalis Ikeda type the FANI (Field Anaemia Nearest Indicator) card was developed by MPI, in which colour charts are used to assess the level of anaemia in individual animals, based on examining the mucous membrane of the vulva. The FANI card has four colour categories, which span the range from healthy to severely anaemic, as well as a fifth category differentiating anaemia due to blood loss. This system was designed to provide sufficient representation of the full range of disease signs but be simple enough to facilitate classification. It enables a cow-side interpretation and decision to be made based on each observation. Animals with a PCV below 0.12 will likely die without a blood transfusion.
If your farm is in a high-risk tick area, the black area of Heath (2016), then all your older animals, which have been on farm for at least one grazing season, will already be infected. There is little or no transfer of infection to calves across the uterus and if you calve in the spring, then your calves will almost certainly all be infected very soon after birth. It takes approximately 40 to 80 days for infection levels to peak, Figure 2, and this is when you will see the most severe anaemia and most disease cases. Later, once the infection levels have dropped, you may also see reduced growth rates and possibly some ill thrift. However, because all calves may be similarly affected this may not be immediately apparent.
Continues next page with graph.....
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Figure 2 Ikeda infection intensity against age for beef calves on two farms in high-risk tick areas
To reduce the potential impact of the disease on your calves you should avoid stressful procedures such as dehorning or castrating at 1 to 2 months of age. Regular weighing may be the only way that you will become aware of reduced growth rates. A feed pinch could also precipitate disease at an older age.
If your farm is in the low-risk tick areas, the grey area of Heath (2016), Figure 1, then it is by no means certain that all your adult cattle will be infected, and it may take up to 3 grazing seasons to be sure. Similarly your calves will not necessarily be infected soon after birth or even at all during that first season. It takes only one tick bite to become infected, but it probably takes multiple tick bites to reach the high levels of infection intensity seen in the high-risk tick areas, Figure 2. This means that your infected calves are unlikely to develop serious anaemia, although they may still show reduced growth rates. This should be more obvious since the infection rate will be variable, and you will possibly have some uninfected calves to compare with. The real issue with your calves is that if you later sell them onto a farmer in a high-risk tick area
36 they may be still uninfected and be at risk of developing more serious disease on the new property.
Currently there are no vaccinations available for preventing T. orientalis infection in New Zealand and the use of flumethrin 10g/L as a pour-on acaricide has been found to have little benefit in preventing the spread of the disease to naïve cattle in areas where it is endemic. The success of treatment with buparvaquone has proved to be variable with some practitioners experiencing consistently high results and others less so. Anecdotally, success is better in acutely ill dairy cows rather than beef calves, which may be less of a reflection on the efficacy of buparvaquone than the ability of the affected animal to replace the lost RBCs. The legal requirements for milk and meat withhold periods for buparvaquone treated cattle are 43-day milk and 548-day meat. Furthermore, all buparvaquone treated animals must be recorded in the MPI data base and have a ‘THL’ tag cross referenced to their NAIT tag in their ear. Calves born to buparvaquone treated dams have a 9-month meat withhold and those calves drinking milk from a buparvaquone treated cow have a 91-day meat withhold.
If you are farming in a high-risk tick area and you want to reduce the infection challenge for your calves, then cross-grazing with sheep and topping pasture, may help. If you have an anaemic calf a simple blood test by your veterinarian will establish if that calf needs a blood transfusion, although anecdotally the success rate for transfusing calves seems to be much lower than for adult cattle.
To prevent purchased cattle becoming sick when they arrive on your farm, especially if you farm in a high-risk tick area, buy them from a high-risk tick area, that way they are already infected, and treat them with a pour-on acaricide before they arrive; that way they don’t bring infected ticks with them. If you are purchasing a high value animal, then get an individual Theileria PCR test done so that you are certain of its infection status. A rough rule of thumb for controlling disease is to buy north and sell south.
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EVANLEA REPORT This has been one of the better years in the Wairarapa for many years with good Autumn growth and generally good weather over the early part of winter.
Cattle numbers have been increased, sheep numbers reduced and it has made for an easier existence. All cattle are in good order at this stage and good quality feed available at this present time. Have managed to sell all surplus stock this year and have good orders for the yearling bulls as spring approaches.
We had a good AGM and tour this year. It was enjoyable to catch up with the breeders as we travelled around. Judy was able to catch up with a teaching colleague whilst in Whangamata.
Calving is due to start the last days of July and looking forward to another good crop of calves by the Zorba bull we purchased from Robin Thomson. Judy & Graeme Evans
RANGITIHI WINTER REPORT We are past the winter solstice and can look forward to longer days and spring.
So far we are managing our pasture with still some grass in front of the mobs. We hope that the English grasses can get a bit of spurt on now that the kikuyu has yellowed off following a few light frosts. Day time temperatures are warm enough but we have had a lot of rain with 196 mm in June and 155mm in May which totals 14 inches in imperial measures. We know that others have had far more than that but it is more than enough for us.
We have kept three heifers and two bull calves and they are rapidly putting on weight. The line of steer calves sold quickly and the heifers were taken by Kaye and Jamie Heaven. We are being super cautious about buying in stock and I am sure that we will want any purchases in the future to be pre-tested for mycoplasmabovis. Gena & Robin Shepherd 38
ROSEMARKIE REPORT
We had our wettest June for quite some years – 195 mm or almost 8” of rain. Fortunately we have not begun lambing or calving. I have already seen a few new lambs in paddocks on the way to town.
We were remiss with weighing the calves at weaning this year and they did not get weighed until 6 weeks after weaning. Top steer was 290kg, top bull 290kg and top heifer was 287kg. I like to make a note at weaning/weighing of what their temperament is like in the head bale. Remarks vary from “bolshy”, “OK” and “quiet”. Any bull which gets “bolshy” becomes a steer very smartly. Heifers get one more chance, if they have not settled next time they are in, then off to the fattening paddock they will go. Of course temperament makes a difference to how quickly they will fatten too. Animals that are forever on the alert can burn a lot of energy that should be going to growth.
We’re looking forward to the trip to the Melbourne Show on Saturday 29th September to see the Red Poll Feature Breed classes, with 4pm sale, and dinner that night. It will be great to catch up with the various friends we have made over the last 3 Congress tours. The Friday prior has the Clydesdale Led Classes so hope to see them as well. We plan to visit a couple of Ryeland sheep studs in Tasmania and one or two near Melbourne also.
Recently we discovered a commercial herd of graded up Red Polls in the Wairarapa. Jane Taylor-Young and Max Young’s herd. They rang us to buy a couple of Ryeland rams and mentioned they farmed next to Kelvin and Kath Lane’s Pongaroa block. They have used bulls from Kelvin & Kath and Graeme & Judy Evans. They now have about 30 graded up cows. They expressed interest in being visited when the tour is next held in the Wairarapa. Helen & Warwick
Photos Back Cover: Top: Red Polls at Crofthead Farm
Bottom: Tamihana Charlie’s Pride at Rosemarkie, December 2007
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